November 28, 2011 ― Improving transparency in the Dominican Republic through a participatory anti-corruption initiative; Implementing a more effective coordination system between development partners in Malawi; Migrating World Bank project accounts to government systems in Armenia and Mongolia; Partnering with civil society organizations in Indonesia to reach marginalized populations.

These are just a few examples of how the World Bank has made its development work more effective. Country ownership, strengthening and using country systems, transparency for results, and partnerships are key principles of the World Bank’s interventions.

Country Ownership and Transparency is Crucial
“Country ownership, relying on the partner countries to be in the driver’s seat and to create and develop better programs is key,” says Managing Director, Sri Mulyani Indrawati. “The Bank’s focus on achieving better results, while leading on transparency, accountability, and strengthening global partnerships has been critical to the aid effectiveness agenda.”

This was also confirmed by the Paris Declaration Survey, the key tool for monitoring international aid effectiveness. According to the survey the Bank has performed better over time― and better than other development partners.

But more needs to be done.

High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan

In the Korean city of Busan, ministers from across the globe, from both developing and donor countries, government representatives, parliamentarians, civil society organizations and private sector representatives will come together for the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness from 29 November to 1 December 2011.
 

Country ownership, relying on the partner countries to be in the driver’s seat and to create and develop better programs is key. World Bank Managing Director, Sri Mulyani Indrawati

They will review global progress in improving the impact and value for money of development aid. And they will make new commitments to further ensure that aid helps reduce poverty and supports progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

Open knowledge, open governance and open aid tools are crucial to strengthen the capacity of state and non-state actors. When the public has access to information―on aid money, budgets, development data and more―they are most involved in the development process and tend to hold their governments accountable.

Open Aid Partnership Introduced in Busan

The World Bank Institute (WBI) is at the forefront of using ‘open tools’ to support country actors in making development more inclusive. The United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Finland announce on November 25 their endorsenment of the new Open Aid Partnership that would expand the work of WBI's Mapping for Results -- a program that has mapped 30,000 World Bank project locations in 145 countries.  Already, projects financed by 27 donors have been geocoded and mapped for Malawi. Nepal's aid flows and public expenditures have also been mapped under the program.

"Open Aid is about how we go from knowing what one donor is doing in one country to knowing what all donors are doing in that country," says Aleem Waliji, WBI's Innovation practice manager. 

Eventually, the goal is to geocode and map all public infrastructure and expenditures and to empower CSOs and citizens to provide feedback.  "Technology is not just a way to broadcast information, but it's a way to listen better," says Waliji.

Key elements of WBI’s capacity development work  

• Knowledge exchanges and south-south learning to connect development practitioners and decision makers with diverse sources of knowledge and development solutions 
• Scanning innovative development solutions from across the world and helping to scale them up 
• Learning events on cutting-edge topics relevant to development practitioners, including e-learning
• Bringing together leadership teams, networks of non-state actors and multi-stakeholder coalitions to tackle development challenges together
• Open Aid Partnership: Enhancing aid effectiveness and coordination by improving aid transparency and strengthening social accountability.

The forum in Busan is a critical milestone for WBI to contribute these approaches to the aid effectiveness agenda.